Local opinion: Is TEP vice president Duke gaslighting customers?

Tucson Electric Power Company’s public relations campaign is ramping up as the 2001 Franchise Agreement lapses this month and heads into an automatic one-year extension. There are probably fewer voters still alive from that 2000 vote than there are voters who come to their first opportunity in a generation to influence Tucson’s energy future. They deserve to have truthful and complete information about some of the details of what they will be voting for, or against.

One detail of importance is the franchisee.

In a recent, March 29, opinion piece by TEP Senior Vice President of Customer and Strategic Affairs, Dallas Duke rightly states that “Franchise agreements must be approved by local voters and sometimes include fees that, like local taxes, are passed along on the bills of customers in the jurisdiction.” True. The taxes you can see on your TEP bill include a State Sales Tax, a Regional Transportation Authority Tax, a City Sales Tax and a Public Utility Tax. There is also a City Franchise Fee.

Mr. Duke also correctly states that fees must be approved by local voters. He goes on to state that “The ballot measures placed before voters make clear that utility customers will pay this fee…”. If Mr. Duke is referring to the 2001 Franchise Agreement ballot language, granting TEP the privilege of using City of Tucson right-of-ways, his assertion is false. The 2001 ballot language is clear and reads as follows: “Granting a franchise to Tucson Electric Power Company for the purpose of providing electric transmission and distribution services within the City of Tucson for which the City of Tucson will receive a franchise fee.” For which the city will receive a franchise fee. Nowhere in this ballot language, or the Franchise Agreement, are voters voting to pay a fee. In fact, the opposite is true. They voted to grant TEP a privilege and understood they would get compensation for granting that privilege.

And if the ballot description is not clear enough, the details of the franchise agreement define the franchise fee, which TEP is agreeing to pay as 2.25% of revenues. Since 2001, when the current franchise agreement came into effect, TEP customers have been billed an inflation-adjusted $340 million.

Perhaps Mr. Duke’s homework in preparing his opinion piece was only by reading TEP’s website under the tab titled: How to read my bill. Under the section: City Franchise Fee, it states: “ TEP has reached formal franchise agreements….that authorize its use of public rights-of-way….These agreements, which were approved by voters….mandate that franchise fees…be added to the bills of customers…”. The 2000 vote to establish the 2001 Franchise Agreement had no such clause, much less mandate. A Senior Vice President of Customer and Strategic Affairs must have an important job to do. It most certainly is not to give TEP customers false information.